U.S. patent application number 12/760427 was filed with the patent office on 2010-10-21 for filling and sealing of beverage containers.
Invention is credited to James Nash.
Application Number | 20100263329 12/760427 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 40750592 |
Filed Date | 2010-10-21 |
United States Patent
Application |
20100263329 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Nash; James |
October 21, 2010 |
FILLING AND SEALING OF BEVERAGE CONTAINERS
Abstract
The present invention provides, inter alia, a method of filling
and sealing a beverage container, the method comprising the steps
of: a) dispensing a predetermined amount of beverage, preferably
wine, into an open-topped container having a circular rim,
preferably a plastics wine glass, to leave a headspace above the
beverage in the container; b) temporarily tacking a generally flat
flexible film lid sized to fit over the open top to the rim of the
container at at least one position around the rim while leaving the
remainder of the rim free; c) engaging the tacked lid to cause
flexure thereof to create a gap between the lid and the rim on one
side; d) dispensing an inert gas, preferably nitrogen, through the
gap so created and into the headspace to displace air therefrom;
and e) bringing a heat sealer into engagement with the lid to heat
seal the lid to the rim about its entire circumference, thereby
trapping the inert gas within the headspace.
Inventors: |
Nash; James; (London,
GB) |
Correspondence
Address: |
HAYES SOLOWAY P.C.
3450 E. SUNRISE DRIVE, SUITE 140
TUCSON
AZ
85718
US
|
Family ID: |
40750592 |
Appl. No.: |
12/760427 |
Filed: |
April 14, 2010 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
53/432 ; 141/5;
53/282; 53/471; 53/478; 53/510 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65B 31/00 20130101;
A47G 19/2205 20130101; B65B 31/043 20130101; B65B 7/2878 20130101;
B65D 81/2076 20130101; B65B 3/04 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
53/432 ; 53/471;
53/478; 53/510; 53/282; 141/5 |
International
Class: |
B65B 31/04 20060101
B65B031/04; B65B 3/06 20060101 B65B003/06; B65B 51/10 20060101
B65B051/10 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Apr 14, 2009 |
GB |
GB 0906430.4 |
Claims
1. A method of filling and sealing a beverage container, the method
comprising the steps of: a) dispensing a predetermined amount of
beverage into an open-topped container having a circular rim to
leave a headspace above the beverage in the container; b)
temporarily tacking a generally flat flexible film lid sized to fit
over the open top to the rim of the container at at least one
position around the rim while leaving the remainder of the rim
free; c) engaging the tacked lid to cause flexure thereof to create
a gap between the lid and the rim on one side; d) dispensing an
inert gas or substantially oxygen free gas or gases through the gap
so created and into the headspace to displace air therefrom; and e)
bringing a heat sealer into engagement with the lid to heat seal
the lid to the rim about its entire circumference, thereby trapping
the inert gas or substantially oxygen free gas or gases within the
headspace.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the tacked lid is engaged by: a
sucker arm that lifts an edge of the lid vertically; a horizontally
acting pusher arm that pushes an edge portion of the lid; or a
device that engages a tab extending beyond the rim of the lid.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the lid is generally circular
with an area corresponding to the area of the container at its rim
and having a tab extending beyond the said rim to one side of the
container for subsequent manual removal of the lid by a consumer to
open the sealed container in order to drink the beverage, and the
tab is pushed to cause flexure of the lid.
4. The method of claim 2, wherein the gap is created by using
relative movement between the container and a ring of radius
slightly larger than the radius of the container at its rim to
cause the ring to engage the tab.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the ring takes the form of a
skirt and the inert gas is supplied via the skirt, which serves to
partially contain the inert or substantially oxygen free gas or
gases.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein a flush of inert gas or
substantially oxygen free gas or gases is timed to coincide with
the skirt brushing the tab.
7. The method of claim 5, wherein the heat sealer is generally
annular and mounted coaxially with the skirt for relative movement
between heat sealer and container to bring the heat sealer into
engagement with the lid while the container is within the ring.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the glass comprises a goblet
formed of Polyethylene terephthalate.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the lid is dispensed from a stack
of lids in a hopper or cassette by a suction arm and the suction
arm includes a spot heat sealer that provides the temporary
tacking.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed on an
indexed turntable, with successive index positions for (i) filling,
(ii) initial application of a lid, (iii) flexure and inert gas
flush and final seal and (iv) presenting the filled and sealed
container to a packaging conveyor.
11. A system for filling and sealing a beverage container, the
system comprising: a) a dispenser for dispensing a predetermined
amount of beverage into an open-topped container having a circular
rim to leave a headspace above the beverage in the container; b) a
device for temporarily tacking a generally flat flexible film lid
sized to fit over the open top to the rim of the container at at
least one position around the rim while leaving the remainder of
the rim free; c) a device for engaging the tacked lid to cause
flexure thereof to create a gap between the lid and the rim on one
side; d) a dispenser for dispensing an inert gas or substantially
oxygen free gas or gases through the gap so created and into the
headspace to displace air therefrom; and e) a heat sealer
configured to be brought into engagement with the lid to heat seal
the lid to the rim about its entire circumference, thereby trapping
the inert gas or substantially oxygen free gas or gases within the
headspace.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein the tacked lid is engaged by: a
sucker arm that lifts an edge of the lid vertically; a horizontally
acting pusher arm that pushes an edge portion of the lid; or a
device that engages a tab on the lid extending beyond the rim of
the lid.
13. The system of claim 12, wherein the lid is generally circular
with an area corresponding to the area of the container at its rim
and having a tab extending beyond the said rim to one side of the
container for subsequent manual removal of the lid by a consumer to
open the sealed container in order to drink the beverage, and the
said device for engaging the tacked lid is configured to push the
tab to cause flexure of the lid and comprises a ring having a
radius slightly larger than the radius of the container at its rim
to cause the ring to engage the tab and flex the tacked lid to
create the gap.
14. The system of claim 13, wherein the ring takes the form of a
skirt and the inert gas is supplied via the skirt, which serves to
partially contain the inert or substantially oxygen free gas or
gases.
15. The system of claim 14, wherein the heat sealer is generally
annular and mounted coaxially with the skirt for relative movement
between heat sealer and container to bring the heat sealer into
engagement with the lid while the container is within the ring.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention concerns filling and sealing of
beverage containers.
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
[0002] Wine is traditionally sold by the bottle, usually in 70 cl
bottles. However, it is drunk by the glass, and often sold in bars,
cafes and restaurants by the glass in measures of different sizes.
The bar, cafe or restaurant owner must supply glasses, dispense the
selected wine from a bottle into the glass, collect empties and
wash them up for reuse. There are thus significant capital and
labour costs inherent in selling wine in the traditional manner by
the glass. Usually only a small selection of popular wines will be
supplied in this way since, once a bottle is opened, its contents
will start to oxidise. Small amounts of wine left at the end of a
bottle must generally be thrown away.
[0003] Because consumers drink wine by the glass, some would like
to purchase it from take-aways, sandwich bars and supermarkets
pre-packaged in single glass quantities. Attempts to supply wine in
small cans has not proved a success, as wine drinkers are reluctant
to drink from a can, so that a disposable glass needs to be
supplied as well as the can. Supplying wine pre-packaged in sealed
glass-shaped plastics containers is attractive to the organizers of
outdoor events, as this removes the need to open bottles or cans to
dispense wine and avoids any wastage. All that is required is the
provision of waste bins for used plastics glasses. For sealed
glass-shaped containers of wine to prove a commercial success, the
wine must have an extended shelf-life. With a view to avoiding
oxidation, the first attempts to fill and seal wine in plastics
glasses filled the wine to the brim to largely eliminate any
headspace containing air. This proved unsuccessful, as the wine was
inevitably spilled when a user tried to remove the sealed lid.
Users are only prepared to buy wine in a glass when they can see a
clear headspace above the wine. Attempts have been made to fill the
glass in environmentally controlled conditions with an inert
atmosphere such as nitrogen, but this has added significantly to
filling costs. Examples of this are disclosed in EP 1235501B
(Pascal) and in PCT WO9605123 (Johnston). An attempt to overcome
this problem has been the adoption of dished lids sealed to the
edge of the glass but extending down into the glass itself to
reduce any air-filled headspace to a minimum but without the wine
being filled to the brim. Such an arrangement is disclosed in GB
2,385,577B (Valentine). However, this use of preformed lids rather
than simple, generally flat, flexible film lids both adds to
expense and still does not result in a filled product with an
extended shelf life that has the clear headspace that customers
desire.
[0004] The methods disclosed herein-below have arisen from our work
seeking to overcome these problems and to provide in an
economically efficient manner an aesthetically and commercially
attractive filled and sealed beverage container, preferably though
not necessarily exclusively, sealed plastics glasses of wine.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] In accordance with a first aspect of this disclosure, there
is provided a method of filling and sealing a beverage container,
the method comprising the steps of: [0006] a) dispensing a
predetermined amount of beverage into an open-topped container
having a circular rim to leave a headspace above the beverage in
the container; [0007] b) temporarily tacking a generally flat
flexible film lid sized to fit over the open top to the rim of the
container at at least one position around the rim while leaving the
remainder of the rim free; [0008] c) engaging the tacked lid to
cause flexure thereof to create a gap between the lid and the rim
on one side; [0009] d) dispensing an inert gas or substantially
oxygen free gas or gases through the gap so created and into the
headspace to displace air therefrom; and [0010] e) bringing a heat
sealer into engagement with the lid to heat seal the lid to the rim
about its entire circumference, thereby trapping the inert gas or
substantially oxygen free gas or gases within the headspace.
[0011] The tacked lid may be engaged in a number of different ways
to cause flexure thereof to create the gap. For example, a sucker
arm may lift an edge of the lid vertically, or a horizontally
acting pusher arm may push an edge portion of the lid. However, in
the particularly preferred arrangement, the lid is generally
circular with an area corresponding to the area of the container at
its rim and having a tab extending beyond the said rim to one side
of the container for subsequent manual removal of the lid by a
consumer to open the sealed container in order to drink the
beverage, and the tab is pushed to cause flexure of the lid.
[0012] Accordingly, in a second and alternative aspect of this
disclosure, there is provided a method of filling and sealing a
beverage container, the method comprising the steps of: dispensing
a predetermined amount of beverage, preferably wine, into an
open-topped container having a circular rim, preferably a plastics
wine glass, to leave a headspace above the beverage in the
container; temporarily tacking a generally flat flexible film lid
sized to fit over the open top to the rim of the container at at
least one position around the rim while leaving the remainder of
the rim free, the lid being generally circular with an area
corresponding to the area of the container at its rim and having a
tab extending beyond the said rim to one side of the container for
subsequent manual removal of the lid by a consumer to open the
sealed container in order to drink the beverage; pushing the tab to
cause flexure of the lid to create a gap between the lid and the
rim on one side; dispensing an inert gas, preferably nitrogen
through the gap so created and into the headspace to displace air
therefrom; and bringing a heat sealer into engagement with the lid
to heat seal the lid to the rim about its entire circumference,
thereby trapping the inert gas within the headspace.
[0013] Preferred embodiments have one or more of the following
features: The gap is created by using relative movement between the
container and a ring of radius slightly larger than the radius of
the container at its rim to cause the ring to engage the tab. The
ring takes the form of a skirt. The inert gas is supplied via the
skirt, which serves to partially contain the inert gas. A flush of
inert gas is timed to coincide with the skirt brushing the tab. The
heat sealer is generally annular and mounted coaxially with the
skirt for relative movement between heat sealer and container to
bring the heat sealer into engagement with the lid while the
container is within the ring.
[0014] Preferably the vessel is a wineglass into which wine is
dispensed in the method. A particularly preferred form of the glass
is where the glass comprises a goblet moulded from PET
(Polyethylene terephthalate). The lid is preferably dispensed from
a stack of lids in a hopper or cassette by a suction arm. The
suction arm is preferably adapted to swivel from a position in
which ft engages the lowermost lid of the stack to a position in
which it places the lid atop the rim of the container. The suction
arm preferably includes a spot heat sealer to provide the temporary
tacking. The method is preferably performed on an indexed
turntable, with successive index positions for (i) filling, (ii)
initial application of a lid, (iii) flexure and inert gas flush and
final seal and (iv) presenting the filled and sealed container to a
packaging conveyor.
[0015] In a third aspect of this disclosure, there is provided a
system for filling and sealing a beverage container, the system
comprising: [0016] a) a dispenser for dispensing a predetermined
amount of beverage into an open-topped container having a circular
rim to leave a headspace above the beverage in the container;
[0017] b) a device for temporarily tacking a generally flat
flexible film lid sized to fit over the open top to the rim of the
container at at least one position around the rim while leaving the
remainder of the rim free; [0018] c) a device for engaging the
tacked lid to cause flexure thereof to create a gap between the lid
and the rim on one side; [0019] d) a dispenser for dispensing an
inert gas or substantially oxygen free gas or gases through the gap
so created and into the headspace to displace air therefrom; and
[0020] e) a heat sealer configured to be brought into engagement
with the lid to heat seal the lid to the rim about its entire
circumference, thereby trapping the inert gas or substantially
oxygen free gas or gases within the headspace.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0021] Examples of methods and apparatus in accordance with our
teaching are described below by way of example only with reference
to the accompanying drawings, in which:
[0022] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates successive stages (a) to
(g) in the filling and sealing of a glass;
[0023] FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of a gas flushing ring
assembly; and
[0024] FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of the assembly of FIG. 2
from the opposite side.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0025] A beverage container, here a clear goblet 1 formed of PET,
is supplied in Step (a) to a turntable (not shown). The turntable
presents the glass 1 to a plurality of indexed stations as it
rotates. At the first index position (i) a predetermined volume of
a beverage, here wine 2, is dispensed via fill nozzle 3 into the
open top 4 of glass 1 in Step (b).
[0026] This disclosure is not concerned with details of the
beverage supply, measured dispensing or filling systems. Any
suitable such systems may be employed and persons engaged in the
beverage industry will have wide knowledge of such systems. Other
beverage containers other than a clear plastics goblet may equally
well be employed.
[0027] A clear headspace 5 is left between the level of wine 2 and
open top 4 of glass 1. The filled glass is carried by the turntable
to the second index position (ii), where a generally flat flexible
film lid 6 is applied to the open top 4 of glass 1 in step (c). In
the illustrated arrangement, a swivel suction arm 7 withdraws
lowermost lid 6 from a stack of lids in a hopper or cassette (not
shown), and is swivelled, as shown by the arrow, to place lid 6
atop glass 1. The swivel section of arm 7 includes a spot heat
sealer which spot tacks the lid 6 to rim 8 of the glass 1 at one or
more points to hold the lid temporarily in place, while leaving the
remainder of the lid free around the circumference of the rim
8.
[0028] This disclosure is not concerned with details of the hopper
or feeding mechanism for individual lids or with details of the
swivel arm or spot heat sealer. All that is required is that a lid
sized to fit over the open top of the container be placed in
position and temporarily tacked at at least one position on the rim
while leaving the remainder of the lid free. Persons familiar with
fill and seal systems will readily be able to adapt existing
mechanisms to achieve these steps. Any suitable such mechanism may
be employed.
[0029] The lid 6 consists of a generally flat flexible film and, in
this arrangement, is circular with an area corresponding to that of
glass 1 at its rim 8, and having a tab 9 extending beyond the rim 8
to one side of the container to allow a consumer to grasp the tab
to manually remove lid 6 from glass 1 in order to drink the wine 2.
The film lid may be made of a variety of materials, suitably
biocompatible materials with good oxygen barrier properties as
desired and may comprise several layers, the lowermost of which is
a heat seal layer that will fuse with the PET of the glass to form
a seal sufficient to hold the lid firmly in position but capable of
being broken by pulling on tab 9.
[0030] Persons familiar with the packaging of foodstuffs will
readily be able to source suitable lids without further
instruction. Examples of suitable materials are given in the
previously referenced prior art but any suitable such flexible film
lid with the appropriate geometry may be employed. The temporarily
lidded glass is carried by the turntable to the third index
position (iii). Here, as explained below, relative movement takes
place between the temporarily lidded glass 1 and a ring 10 in Step
(d), the ring 10 being moved generally vertically down a rail 11 in
the illustrated arrangement, while the glass 1 is held stationary;
and the ring 10 engages tab 9 to push it down sufficiently to cause
upward flexure of the lid to create a gap 12 between lid and rim
into which an inert gas is dispensed in Step (e).
[0031] Reference should be made to FIGS. 2 and 3 for details of a
preferred ring assembly. The ring 10, itself, is formed in two
halves 13 and 14. The upper half 13 forms an upper gas flush plate,
while lower half 14 forms a lower gas flush plate, the two
effectively forming a skirt that surrounds the top of glass 1, as
shown at (e) in FIG. 1, to partially contain dispensed inert gas,
as explained below.
[0032] One or more, here a plurality, of gas flush channels 15 are
defined between the upper and lower gas flush plates, in this case
by machining the channels in lower face 16 of the upper plate. The
ring assembly of gas flush plates 13, 14 is mounted on an
adjustment plate 17 that allows some adjustment in the position of
the gas flush nozzles, as defined by the openings of channels 15 on
inner surface 18 of upper gas flush plate 13, angularly about the
axis of the ring assembly. An adapter plate 19 serves both to
couple the adjuster plate 17 to a carriage 20 adapted to move
vertically on linear rail 11, and to mount a cylinder 21 of inert
gas, preferably nitrogen, shown separated in FIG. 2, via a cylinder
mount plate 22.
[0033] The coupling between the carriage 20 and rail 11 has been
omitted from the drawings for economy of drawing. The details of
such coupling and of the drive for achieving the required indexed
movement of the carriage 20 with the ring assembly 10 on rail 11
are not of importance to the present disclosure. Persons familiar
with automated machinery will readily be able to provide for such
coupling, and for the drive to achieve the required indexed
movement, without further instruction. Any suitable such coupling
and any suitable such drive may be employed.
[0034] Referring again to FIG. 1, as the ring assembly 3, the inner
radius of which is only slightly larger than the radius of the
glass 1 at its rim 8, is lowered over the top of the glass, the
ring assembly 10 brushes against tab 9, and, in so doing, pushes it
down sufficiently to cause upward flexure of the flexible film lid
6 to create gap 12 between the lid and the rim 8. As ring assembly
10 engages tab 9 to create gap 12, a flush of inert gas is timed to
be dispensed from channels 15 through gap 12 and into the headspace
5 within the temporarily lidded glass defined between wine 2 and
lid 6, to displace air from the headspace, thereby completing Step
(e).
[0035] At the same time, Step (f) is initiated to bring a heat
sealer 23 into engagement with the lid 6 to heat seal the lid to
the rim about its entire circumference, thereby trapping the inert
gas within the headspace. In the illustrated arrangement, heat
sealer 23 comprises a machined annular copper heat seal plate 24
mounted from a carriage 25 adapted to move vertically along rail
11, the heat seal plate 24 being adapted to come down within the
inner radius of the gas flush plates to engage the lid 6
immediately over rim 8 of glass 1 to effect a seal around the
entire circumference of the rim.
[0036] The filled and sealed wine glass 26 is then moved by the
turntable to its final index position (iv) in Step (g), where it is
presented to a packaging conveyor of conventional form (not
illustrated) for movement to a packaging station for packaging and
dispatch to customers.
[0037] While the system described above is particularly suitable
for filling and sealing wine in plastics goblets with a lid having
a tab for pulling the lid free, other arrangements are feasible.
Thus the lid need not be circular and need not have a tab. The term
"circumference" is used herein to refer to `the whole of the rim",
even in the case of a container with a non-circular opening. Thus,
the lid may be generally square and arranged to be pierced by a
drinking straw to reach a soft drink packaged within an opaque four
sided plastics container, so that it has no tab. The lid need not
extend beyond the edge of the rim of the container. In such
arrangement, a ring assembly 3 could not be employed to cause
flexure of the lid. Instead, a vertically acting sucker arm may be
used to lift the tacked lid slightly to create a gap for the inert
gas.
[0038] Other arrangements for causing flexure of the tacked lid are
also feasible. Thus a horizontally reciprocating side arm may push
an edge portion of the tacked lid opposite the tacked portion and
slightly towards it sufficiently to flex the lid and create a
gap.
[0039] It will also be appreciated that beverages other than wine
may be filled, sealed and packaged in accordance with the teachings
herein. Thus beer may be packaged in a PET beer glass in a similar
manner to the packaging of wine as specifically described
above.
* * * * *